A Moped and 10 Bicycles for a Parish in TanzaniaThursday, February 20, 2014

Project Code: 154-01-29

Father Anastas Kaweza, the parish priest, and the catechists who help him minister to the faithful in the widely-scattered Parish of Ebuyu, in the Diocese of Mahenge in Tanzania, have so far been journeying on foot to visit parishioners. Apart from the parish church, there are three outstations where Holy Mass is also celebrated. These outstations are each about 5 or 6 miles apart, and the parish also has 35 small village communities.

Given these distances, the priest cannot be everywhere at once, and the people themselves cannot walk every day to the parish church or to the various outstations. As a result, catechists have come to play a vital role in the life of the parish, allowing people to meet in their own villages and to pray and learn about their faith. But not every village has its own catechist, so even the catechists themselves have to do quite a bit of traveling in order to reach the people.

Father Anastas Kaweza, the parish priest, and the catechists who help him minister to the faithful have so far been doing all this journeying on foot. And Father Kaweza must also travel to various diocesan meetings and gatherings at the diocesan center in Mahenge, some 30 miles away. As a result, a great deal of time and energy is wasted that could better be spent on pastoral ministry.

The parishioners are very poor, already living from hand to mouth with barely enough to feed their own families, so they cannot offer much in the way of financial support for the parish. Father Kaweza has turned to ACN, asking us for the very modest amount of $2,500 so that he can buy a moped and 10 bicycles. We have promised to help him. Will you now give so that he and his catechists can more quickly and easily reach the faithful in Tanzania?

Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church that we serve. Funds donated to Aid to the Church in Need’s projects will be used towards the greatest need in our programs to help keep the Faith alive.